The N.C. Military Foundation spent $49,000 on lobbying in 2007.

According to state and federal lobbying disclosure forms, the nonprofit started by Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue to promote defense spending in North Carolina spent about a quarter of its consulting budget on lobbyists in its first full year.

With a tight budget, the group relies heavily on outside consultants, including two lobbyists, Jimmy Broughton and Mark Harkins. Executive Director Will Austin also does some lobbying of state government, and lobbyist John Mashburn also did some work in 2007.

The lobbyists are a bipartisan group.

Broughton is a former chief of staff to Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, Mashburn was general counsel to Republican Sen. Judd Gregg, Harkins was chief of staff to Democratic Rep. Brad Miller, and Austin was an assistant to Democratic Sen. John Edwards.

Broughton, Harkins and Mashburn work for Raleigh firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

In 2007, the foundation reported spending $9,340 for Broughton and Austin to lobby the state government, and $40,000 for Broughton, Harkins and Mashburn to lobby the federal government.

That year, it spent about $212,000 on outside consultants.

Who is consulting for the N.C. Military Foundation?

The nonprofit started by Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue in 2006 to promote defense spending in North Carolina runs on a tight budget, relying on outside consultants.

Here's a quick sketch of their major consultants:

Retired Major Gen. Mike Davidson: Former assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Gen. Hugh Shelton.

Hon. Mike Walker: Former acting Secretary of the Army in 1998 and Undersecretary of Defense.

Meg Ryan O'Donnell: President of Winning Strategies, a Raleigh communications firm.

Jimmy Broughton: Former chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms and federal lobbyist with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

Mark Harkins: Former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Brad Miller and lobbyist with Womble Carlyle.

As lobbyists on military issues, Broughton and Harkins also work for Blackwater Worldwide, a controversial security contractor based in Moyock.

Executive Director Will Austin says he met with Blackwater in the past, but the foundation does not typically promote specific military contractors, instead focusing on the state's overall military friendliness.

"We don't have a relationship with them," he said.

Blackwater has hired North Carolina's biggest and most powerful law firm as its new lobbyist in Washington.

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice has signed up five lobbyists to work for the private security contractor, including Jimmy Broughton, former chief of staff for archconservative Sen. Jesse Helms; Mark Harkins, former chief of staff for Rep. Brad Miller, a liberal Democrat; and John Mashburn, former general counsel for Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee.

The lobbyists will have plenty of work: Blackwater relies on the U.S. government for more than 90 percent of its revenue. Blackwater is under investigation for the Sept. 16 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqi civilian dead. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been digging into Blackwater's finances and conduct in Iraq and elsewhere.

Womble's mascot is Winston the Bulldog. Hopefully Winston will get along better with Blackwater than the New York Times dog.

Crossposted from Joe Neff's Blackwater Current blog.